


2am thoughts

by riceballs



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Canon, Character Study, Drabble, Gen, Introspection, lapslock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:35:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28762698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riceballs/pseuds/riceballs
Summary: at 2am, chan sees his members.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 19
Collections: Drabbles Challenge for Chaotic Writers





	2am thoughts

**Author's Note:**

> for @skzwriters drabble challenge for international fanworks day. I rarely write canon so wanted to try it for skz, and also wanted to try writing something under 1000 words. I only managed to complete one, but that’s still a win in my books.

it’s easy to get lost in the music sometimes, allowing for his songs to take precedence over bodily functions like sleep and eating. chan knows it's unhealthy, with how much he hears about it from fans and family and really, anyone with an opinion - but he can’t help it. he lives- no,  _ breathes _ music, his mind in a melodious constant, new beats being formed almost every waking minute. 

but a look over to his right where a visibly exhausted jisung sits clues chan in that maybe just that night - he’ll play the responsible one and pack up his things, power down their studio’s computer, and drag jisung out with him back to their dorm for one night of a more normal sleep schedule. his laptop doesn’t have legs, and their music isn’t going anywhere, so perhaps it would be a good idea to go now while jisung’s legs still work and he doesn’t have to carry him home. 

_ anyone still at the company? _ he sends in their chat, not expecting a response. 2am might be early for chan to leave, but their schedules had ended at 10pm the previous day, meaning most of the others should have been home by now. 

the familiar sound of kakaotalk rings.  _ i’m still here!  _ he blinks. jeongin is among the early to bed, early to rise members, so it’s a surprise to see a response from their youngest.  _ i’m in one of the vocal rooms right now.  _

_ let’s go home together. _ chan wouldn’t usually be one to order the members around, but he worries sometimes, how much jeongin pushes himself to practice. they all do, because practice leads to perfection, and in a cutthroat industry like the one that they’re in, they all need to be more than perfect to survive. but maybe chan’s still stuck in the time where jeongin was young, too young to be thrown into such a world like theirs, all wide braced smiles and twinkling eyes full of innocence. 

as if his text summons him, jeongin pops his head into the studio. “ready when you are,” he says, eyeing a still slumped over jisung. chan nudges at jisung (who still doesn’t move), before standing himself, stretching his limbs out. jeongin sighs and grabs at jisung’s arm, nearly dragging him off the chair and towards the door. 

despite the late night (early morning? chan’s never sure what to call it), the streets are still well lit, as they make their way slowly back to their dorm. chan huddles closer into his coat, glancing to his sides to make sure both jisung and jeongin are wearing theirs properly as well. 

they round the corner to their street just as hyunjin is exiting the local mart. “oh, you’re back early.” hyunjin nods in chan’s direction, slinging his arm around jisung’s shoulder. 

“are you just coming back from somewhere as well?” the others like to joke that chan acts too much like a dad sometimes, but he prefers to call it making sure the others are safe. 

hyunjin hums his acknowledgment. “went for a walk, wanted to clear my mind,” he answers simply, sending a reassuring grin in chan’s direction. for a moment, chan stares at hyunjin, searching his face for anything else. sometimes - it’s not only protecting the members from bodily harm or physical danger that chan worries about, but rather, it's the evils that lurk below the surface, the ones that chan can’t see until it’s too late. 

but hyunjin wears his heart on his sleeve, and today, chan sees it’s full and uncracked, so he tables the thought in his mind for later. 

they manage to get jisung - who’s already half-asleep - through the door before jeongin drags him into their room. he can see hyunjin sliding stealthily into the bathroom, and laughs. you would think after almost three years they were all used to sharing two bathrooms, but some things never change, and the daily fight for shower time is a familiar constant from the nearly ten years he’s lived away from home. 

he turns the corner into his own room to put his bag down. immediately he spots changbin, propped up in the bunk under his, phone in his hand. chan has always admired changbin for his strong resolve. like chan and jisung, changbin is no stranger to the maze of lyrics and tracks that 3racha finds themselves trapped in at times, but unlike the other two, changbin knows how to find his way out, leaving at 12am on the dot when it was clear their latest song was at a standstill - stating that he was going home and actually using his own netflix account instead of letting everyone else steal it. judging by the fact that changbin’s face was still glued to the screen, chan supposes at least one person was successful in their mission for that night. 

“felix home?” changbin nods in the direction of felix’s bed, where the lump of blankets shuffles and a peace sign sticks out from under the blankets, followed by a head and two sleepy eyes. 

“sorry to wake you,” chan whispers in response. felix waves his apology off, before sticking himself straight back under his covers. 

he pulls his towel from his closet, grabbing a change of clothing and figuring he’d try their second bathroom before jisung actually woke up and realized he needed to shower. despite his willingness to let the members go first for most things, there are times where order is fair game and chivalry be damned, one of those times being a hot shower and fresh change of clothes. 

jeongin and jisung’s door is closed, but the light is on in the other bedroom, and chan peeks in. most of the beds are empty except one - where a sound asleep seungmin laid. he smiles softly at the sight, tiptoeing quietly over to pull the covers over seungmin’s body properly - pulling away seungmin’s journal in his hand and placing it on the side. it’s a testament to how tired seungmin must have been.

he softly pads his way out of their room, closing the door slightly to block off any outside noise. turning, he nearly jumps in shock as minho suddenly appears in front of him, hair wet and towel in hand.  _ ah, that means bathroom two is open now. _

“oh, you’re up late,” he comments. minho smiles at that, toweling his hair off. 

“was waiting for you to come back,” he jokes, tossing the towel into their mess of a laundry basket. he glances back up at chan. “needed to make sure you didn’t run off and leave me with these mischievous kids.”

“well now that you’ve put the idea into my mind…” 

minho’s smile widens, his eyes twinkling. “good night, chan-hyung.” is his only answer, before he slinks off into the room chan just left. chan turns back around to see minho closing the door as softly as chan did, the light shutting off right as the door closes. 

chan lets out a low chuckle, before shaking his head and heading for the bathroom. a long shower, fresh clothing, and his warm bed had never sounded as enticing as they were at that very moment.

**Author's Note:**

> there’s something special about the order the members show up in :) 
> 
> twitter: [8dumplings](twitter.com/8dumplings)


End file.
